


Gifts

by unfolded73



Series: S6 Reaction Fics [3]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Gen, background David/Patrick - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 15:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22498576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfolded73/pseuds/unfolded73
Summary: Post episode 6x04: Jocelyn and Patrick talk about their relationships to the Roses.
Series: S6 Reaction Fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603735
Comments: 13
Kudos: 132





	Gifts

“Hi, Patrick!” a chipper voice at a similar pitch to the bell above the Rose Apothecary door called. Patrick glanced up to see Jocelyn maneuvering into the store backward, pulling Roland Junior’s stroller through the narrow entrance.

“Hey, Jocelyn,” Patrick called absently, focused on putting a fresh roll of receipt paper in the credit card reader. “How are you?”

“Oh, you know. Sleep deprived as always.” She’d swung the stroller around and began glancing at the shelves. “I wanted to get something for Moira. A little congratulations gift to celebrate her movie.”

Smiling, Patrick closed up the card reader and tested that the paper was feeding correctly. “That’s nice of you.”

“Well, she’s so excited. And I think she’s… nervous about it. I thought maybe David could suggest something she’d like.”

“David’s out meeting with a prospective new vendor, but you probably can’t go wrong with wine.” He came out from behind the register and gestured to the containers of moisturizer. “She also likes to steal those whenever she can get away with it.”

Jocelyn picked up one of the jars, examined it, and set it back down. “You saw the Crows trailer, I assume?”

Patrick chuckled. “Mrs. Rose had me watch it four times as soon as we got back from the tailor’s yesterday.”

Jocelyn gasped. “Were you and David picking out wedding tuxes?”

“Well, _I_ was. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that David wouldn’t be caught dead in something you can buy in Elm Glen, so he’s been shopping consignment sites online for a suit from a major designer that he can afford.”

Jocelyn rolled the stroller back and forth, a habitual motion to soothe her son, although Rollie seemed content enough at the moment. “You mean David didn’t try to outfit you in the same kind of high fashion couture?”

Patrick walked over to the wine display and picked up a bottle of Moira’s favorite varietal. “I managed to convince David that it wouldn’t be the best use of our limited wedding budget since I literally couldn’t care less.” He smirked, bringing the wine back over to Jocelyn. “The fact that it leaves more money for his wedding suit might have contributed to me winning that little debate.”

“How’s the rest of the wedding planning going?”

“David could give you a much more detailed answer to that question, to be honest. I’m mostly the numbers guy. But I’d say it’s going reasonably well.” He watched as the baby stretched his hand out futilely for some bottles on a shelf that was fortunately out of his reach. “Of course, it’s early. There’s still time for things to go off the rails.”

Jocelyn was visibly wincing. “Sounds a little bit like David is sidelining you from your own wedding plans. That doesn’t bother you?”

He thought about his answer for a couple of seconds before speaking. “The fairy tale wedding, it’s important to David. After what happened to the Roses a few years ago — look, it’s easy to scoff at, the idea of a super rich family losing all of their money and having to slum it with the rest of us. But no matter how you slice it, it was a traumatic event in his life.”

“In all of their lives,” Jocelyn said.

“The only part that’s truly important to me is that we have all of our friends and family around us when we say our vows. Beyond that, I don’t know how much I really care about the clothes and the food and the… aesthetic of it. But David cares. And I want David to have as much of that fairy tale as I can give him because, after everything that happened to him, I think he deserves it. And because he’s given me… everything.”

“Wow,” Jocelyn said, fanning her face. “I almost forgot about how seductive your eyes can be!” She gave him a wide grin. “David’s a lucky man! Aaaanyway…” Rollie threw a toy on the ground at that moment and started to fret, and Patrick was grateful to have an excuse to focus on something other than Jocelyn calling him _seductive_. He bent over and picked the colorful teething ring up and started to give it back to Rollie before he thought better of it.

“Okay if he gets this back after it’s been on the floor?” he asked Jocelyn.

“Yeah, it’s fine! The germs are good for him.” Patrick held the ring out for Rollie, who grabbed it and immediately put it in his mouth. “It’s funny, but I’ve been thinking a lot of the same things about Moira,” Jocelyn said.

Patrick tilted his head and squinted at her. “I didn’t realize you and Mrs. Rose were that close.”

She sort of scream-laughed at him. “No, what I mean is, I’ve been thinking about everything she went through, you know. This movie is so important to her. And I really care about her and want her to succeed.”

“It’s…” Patrick wasn’t sure how truthful to be; how under the thrall of Moira Rose, the unreliable narrator, Jocelyn was. “It’s a pretty low budget movie.” 

“Oh yeah, I know.” She was nodding emphatically. “But maybe it’ll become a cult film, you know? Beloved because it’s sort of weird. And maybe critics won’t be as hard on it if they see it through that lens.”

He hoped she was right, if for no other reason that he didn’t want to get married while clustered around the closet that Moira Rose refused to emerge from. 

“I just want her to get a win, that’s all.” She took the wine bottle from him and gestured with it. “Moira deserves a win.” 

“On that we agree,” Patrick said, following Jocelyn over the register to ring up her purchase. “You’re a good friend to her, Jocelyn.”

“Well.” She threw her hands up briefly. “I don’t think she’s had a lot of friends in her life. Like, actual friends who care about her, I mean. I’m sure she had plenty of people hanging around who wanted something from her, back in her old life.”

Patrick thought about David’s so-called friends from the past while he dug around under the counter to find the wine bottle gift bags. “That’s certainly the truth.” He stood back up once he’d found one.

“Do you ever think about where we’d all be if the Roses had never come to Schitt’s Creek?” Jocelyn asked as she paid him for the wine.

He did, actually, and those thoughts never led anywhere good. “I try not to, and not just for selfish reasons. This town really changed them.”

Jocelyn snorted. “You don’t know the half of it; you weren’t here when they first arrived in town.”

“True, but Stevie’s told me stories,” he said with a grin.

She reached over and gave him a pat on the arm before gathering up Moira’s gift. “See you later, Patrick. I can’t wait to watch you and David tie the knot.”

“Have a good one, Jocelyn,” he said, waving goodbye to little Rollie and then going over to help Jocelyn with the door. “Tell Mrs. Rose I hope she enjoys the wine.”

He stood by the front window of Rose Apothecary for a while, looking out at the downtown that had become so familiar to him over the last couple of years. Patrick had discovered who he was here in Schitt’s Creek. He’d met the love of his life here. He and David had built this business together here. Soon, they’d get married here. He stood by the window until a group of women from the senior center came into the store, and he braced himself for their inevitable cheek pinches and inquiries about his upcoming wedding.

“Hi, what can I help you with today?”


End file.
